Last Sunday, we moseyed on down to the local Fiat dealer destined to lease an electric 500, better known as the 500e. After much dickering on price, we walked out, they followed and settled on our terms. It was simple. I was spending over $200 a month in gas for my 1989 4Runner, to get groceries and other basic errands. Fiat was advertising a $139 lease. Electricity is substantially less than gas, therefore if we could get a low enough lease payment we would actually be saving money for me to drive a new car, with modern amenities and reliability. Insurance and registration are more expensive, but they offset the annual repair costs of keeping up a car with 210k miles on it. Plus, I really felt like a major repair was about to hit. (Mechanics know these things, we are at one with our cars.) So all said and done, I drive home in a totally fun little city car. I love it!

Fun was not completely unexpected. The test drive proved to be satisfying and the car had quite the pep. 142 ft pounds of torque instantly, which gives the car a Disneyland roller coaster acceleration kind of feel. Turn off the stability control and one (not me of course) could do burn outs all day long, leaving 11's all over town. The hard-ish Firestone Firehawks help with that. Low rolling resistance, not grabby rubber is the course for electric scoots. It handles reasonably well considering the batteries add an extra 600 pounds to the weight of a standard Fiat 500. I opted for the equally fun white leather with bright orange accents. I've had black interiors in Riverside and they just become heat magnets. I chose the light silver paint, but had they had an electric orange one I would have jumped on that. Maybe I'm getting tacky in my old age, but it sure is just as fun to look at as it is to drive.

Inside is all the technology I'm not used to and generally opposed to in cars I own, but I won't own this and am perfectly happy giving it back in three years. Bluetooth, a Tom Tom navigation that is integrated into the dash (removable and portable), heated seats, heated mirrors and a 7" LCD speedometer/computer screen complete with too many menu options. auto dimming rear view mirror, back up sensors, some kind of forward pedestrian sensor, because people like walking in front of rolling cars and if they walk in front of this one it will beep at them. (I'm going to test this option today.) Power windows, mirrors and door locks. and steering wheel mounted phone and radio controls. No adaptive cruise however, which in a car with all this technology should exist. Standard stereo with Alpine speakers, which is a bit on the weak side. I want to hear what the Bose option sounds like. Wrap that all up in a handy dandy phone app that locks the doors, honks the horn and allows me to preconditon the car, if it's plugged in. (preconditioning is the act of heating or cooling the car prior to entry.) exciting when new, but that kind of stuff gets old quick.

I can not believe it has been nearly a year since I started this blog and site. What a horrible waste of money. I pay $20 a month and do nothing with it. That money could have afforded me several cups of coffee, a couple draft ciders at D'dogs. a Gallon of gas, (ok slight exaggeration) . I could be writing down my thoughts and making my creations. I am afraid to call them art, since I have real artists friends who frown on that. And I have photographer friends who frown on me calling them photographs, so, I'll call them creations. Now I bet my creationist friends will furrow their brows. Eh... Nobody dun reads 'dis anywayz.

It never fails, that when a person needs their computer the most, it breaks down. I have been juggling between a 7 year old desktop and my 5 year old Macbook for about three months now. The images I am editing are just too large and complicated for either machine to do it's work. I decided about a week ago, that I would have to forgo a new camera in leu of a new computer.The choices seems endless these days, Mac or PC, Laptop or desktop. Build it myself or buy it complete. It's worse than shopping for a car. My research has lead me to the conclusion that I will build a Mac clone for half the cost of a real Apple. The choice is called Hackintosh. I think I will be able to build a machine that will run both OSX and Windows 8 for just under $1300. That is $1100 less than the slower Mac Pro. I'm ordering my parts tonight and will let everyone know how it goes. I have a lot of doubters in my ear, especially the Apple fan club. Have no fear Hackintosh is here!

I slapped down my 20 big ones for one month and transferred my domain http://tedkulesa.com to squarespace. I could have saved four dollars a month by coughing up $192 for a years subscription, but I'm not a commitment kind of guy, ask Susanne. So for now, I will pay the extra four dollars and stay on a month to month contract to see if this is going to fulfill my needs.

Maybe I'll rant, maybe I won't. Maybe a few images with some thought provoking words and maybe nothing at all. It all depends on everything. So for now, I am saying Hello world! Here I am!